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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



era side of Kattegat, the herring go with 

 it and a fishery follows. 



Various forms of gill-nets and seines 

 are employed, the most productive ap- 

 paratus being drift gill-nets. About 1895 

 fully 10,000 fishermen were engaged in 

 the Swedish herring fishery, and fish to 

 the value of more than $1,000,000 were 

 caught. Ten years later the herring 

 were much less abundant, and the catch 

 fell to $475,000. 



OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 



Russia has a fishery for the sea- 

 herring in the White and Baltic seas, 

 but no reliable information relative to the 

 extent of the industry is available. The 

 principal catch of herring is made in the 

 Caspian and Black seas, the species 

 sought being large and similar to our 

 shad. 



Belgium's interest in the herring fish- 

 ery at the present day is comparatively 

 trivial ; but in ancient times a large part 

 of the coastwise population made a living 

 by catching and salting herrings. As 

 early as the twelfth century the Flemish 

 herrings were renowned, and the Flem- 

 ish fishermen visited the coasts of Eng- 

 land, Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, to 

 take herring in their drift-nets when for 

 any reason the fish failed to visit the 

 home shores. So valuable was the her- 

 ring that the fishermen sometimes cruised 

 as far as Iceland when the fish were 

 scarce in nearer waters. The Flemish 

 herring fishermen became particularly 

 prosperous when Edward III of England 

 permitted them to sell their fish in his 

 realm. Today the Belgian herring fish- 

 ery is restricted to the towns of La Panne 

 and Coxyde, from which about 100 small 

 sloops operate. Their catch in 1906 was 

 worth only $53,950. 



Denmark has herring fishing in the 

 North Sea, Skager Rak, Kattegat, Lim 

 Fjord, and Baltic Sea; but by far the 

 most extensive industry is in the waters 

 east of the Skaw, chief of which is the 

 Kattegat. Between 100 and 200 million 

 herring are taken annually, and in a re- 

 cent year the value of the catch was 

 $619,000. 



The herring fishery of Germany is of 

 ancient origin. While there are minor 

 interests in the Baltic Sea, the industry 

 has always centered at Emden, at the 

 mouth of the Ems, and been supported 

 by the shoals of fish in the North Sea. 

 After years of cessation, the fishery 

 sprang up again at Emden in 1872, owing 

 to the advent of a Dutch firm from 

 Vlaardingen, and the growth of the busi- 

 ness there has been steady. At present 

 upward of 150 German vessels, including 

 a number of steam luggers, are now en- 

 gaged in the North Sea fishery, and the 

 annual catch is from 40 to 50 million 

 pounds, worth about $1,000,000. 



JAPAN 



In this country, whose fisheries are 

 comparatively more important than in 

 any other and actually more valuable 

 than in any except the United States 

 and Great Britain, the herring is easily 

 the most valuable product of the waters. 



The fish occurs in immense shoals on 

 the northern coasts of Japan, from Sak- 

 halin to the northern parts of Honshu, 

 being particularly abundant and caught 

 in largest quantities in Hokkaido. 



The fishery is conducted in spring, and 

 is prosecuted with gill-nets, seines, and 

 pound-nets. In Hokkaido, where 16,000 

 fishermen engage in this branch, most of 

 the herring caught are made into guano, 

 owing to the immense quantities caught 

 in a very short time and to the lack of 

 facilities for curing or preserving in any 

 other way. The average quantity of her- 

 ring marketed in Japan annually of late 

 years has been over 325,000,000 pounds, 

 valued at $4,250,000, and has occasion- 

 ally reached 430,000,000 pounds. In the , 

 fisheries of Hokkaido about 300,000,000 

 pounds of herring guano, worth $3,400,- 

 000, are prepared each year. 



The acquisition of part of Sakhalin, 

 together with the fishing privileges on the 

 Siberian coasts secured by the Treaty of 

 Portsmouth, has greatly increased the 

 fishing grounds and fishery resources of 

 Japan, particularly in cod, salmon, and 

 herring, and the development of the new 

 grounds that is now in progress will add 



